Officially a Tummy Tucker now! - Nova Scotia

I am a mom to three wonderful children (18, 8 and 6). After my third child, I lost all of my baby weight from the three pregnancies (over 40 pounds) and discovered a new me. My weight has fluctuated over the years, peaking at around 200 pounds, down to 120 at my lowest.

I am currenly at 135 pounds and am happy with where I am, except for my belly. I HATE MY BELLY, no other way to describe it. I have been saving up for the past 5 years for this surgery and now that I have enough money saved, I realized that there were no more excuses for not getting this done! I want to look as beautiful as I feel on the inside.

I do not have any before photos yet - I can hardly look in a mirror let alone take a photo :) I will do it, just need to work up the nerve.

My worry is not the surgery itself, it is the recovery. I don't want to do anything to jeopardize my quality of life with my children, and truly, I don't need this surgery to have a good quality of life, but I find that I don't get the full enjoyment out of my life because my tummy is constantly on my mind. It's the first thing I look at in EVERY photo and I try very hard to hide it.

SO - my decision is being made for ME and I feel like it is the right one. I am certain I will look back and have no regrets - I just want to fast forward time to 6 months from now when I get the nerve to finally put in a bikini. I have NEVER worn one in my life and I want to be able to do so before my 40th birthday.

The countdown is on - 16 days. Oh my, so much to do before this happens :)

SO - today I am now officially 2 weeks until my tummy tuck. I am wrestling with the thoughts of having a full tummy tuck repair versus having lipo and removal of the extra skin from my three pregnancies (no stretch marks which I guess I should consider myself lucky).

Does anyone have any advice on whether fixing the abdominal muscles really helps with the tummy tuck? Mine aren't too far apart in my opinion - one finger width maybe? This is probably just me trying to figure out a way to minimize the recovery pain and time period :) I don't want to do this though and regret that I didn't do the muscle repair as well. I figure there must be someone out there who had the same thoughts and may have some good advice.

I am feeling a bit stressed about the fact it's only 2 weeks until my procedure. I work full time and am trying to finish up some things at work before I am off. I am doing my MPA and have a midterm and assignment due within the next two weeks and of course there are TONS of things that I think I should be doing at home to get prepared for this. I guess I'll just put it all in perspective, prioritize and everything will be fine. I am lucky to have my huband at home through my recovery, so taking care of my kids isn't going to be an issue for me, thankfully.

Otherwise, I am making soups and meals to freeze so my hubby can keep everyone fed. I follow the simply for life program (google it if you are curious) and I want to have lots of the dishes that I can eat all prepared so I don't start eating all the wrong foods after my surgery.

Still no before photos yet....hey, I've still got 2 weeks, right? :)

Wow - time sure flew by! It's now just 2 days until my surgery! I'm fluctuating between being scared, nervous, excited, all pretty much at the same time! I finish work tomorrow at noon and then am off for just shy of 3 weeks for recovery. Going to take before photos tonight, promise :)

I am NOT looking forward to buying ganny panties tonight.....saw a suggestion somewhere to wear two pairs, to help hold up the surgical drains. May give that a go.

Speaking of surgical drains....that whole thing is kind of grossing me out - hoping they don't stay in very long.....

Any words of advice are appreciated, feeling kind of unprepared for this - but I know it will be fine.